JP2000221717A - Drying equipment for photoreceptor drum tube - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the yield without causing failure in the appearance or irregular thickness of a photosensitive coating film due to deposition of foreign matters by arranging a drying and cooling room in which a photoreceptor drum tube after cleaned is dried by heating and cooled to a temp. near the liquid temp. of a photosensitive liquid. SOLUTION: The tube drying equipment 8 includes a drying room 9 and a cooling room 10 each having a heat insulating structure which are successively connected to a cleaning room 7 so as to dry a tube 3 after cleaned. Each of the drying room 9 and the cooling room 10 is equipped with an air circulating device which holds the cleaned tubes 3 arranged in the vertical position and which supplies heating and drying air or cooling air downward from the upper position of the tubes 3. In the drying room 9, for example, the temp. of a heater unit is controlled to dry the tubes at 100 to 170 deg.C for 10 to 60 min. In the cooling room 10, the temp. is controlled by a cooler and a heater so as to cool the heated tube 3 to near the liquid temp. of the photosensitive liquid in a reservoir in a coating equipment 18. A sensor to control the temp. is disposed each in the drying room 9 and the cooling room 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning a photosensitive drum tube in a process of manufacturing a photosensitive drum provided in an image forming apparatus such as an electrostatographic copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The above-mentioned photosensitive drum is manufactured, for example, as follows. That is, an aluminum pipe or a pipe whose surface is subjected to alumite treatment is used as a raw tube, and the inside and the outer surface of the raw tube are cleaned for debris removal and degreasing.

[0003] If the surface of the tube is not sufficiently drained, poor appearance of the photosensitive coating on the photosensitive drum occurs. The tube is stored in a free flow line and dried, and dried sufficiently. The raw tube thus obtained is supplied to a photosensitive solution coating facility, where the raw tube is suspended and held, and immersed in a photosensitive solution tank to form a coating film of the photosensitive solution on the surface of the raw tube.

[0004] Next, after removing the photosensitive coating at the spigot fitting portion on the lower end side of the suspension of the raw tube, the raw tube is sent to a drying facility, and the photosensitive coating is dried by, for example, circulating air. By this, the production of the photosensitive drum is temporarily completed, but finally, in the process, the photosensitive drum is sent to the appearance inspection equipment, and the appearance inspection for exposing the photosensitive coating film is performed. Also, during this exposure, if the photosensitive drum is in a high temperature state, the electrical characteristics of the photosensitive coating film deteriorate, so the photosensitive drum is stored in the free flow line and cooled, Only photosensitive drums that have passed the visual inspection are shipped as products.

[0005]

However, in the above-described manufacturing process, the cleaned tube is stored in a free flow line, and drainage of the surface of the tube depends on natural drying. In addition, a large space is required, and if foreign matter adheres to the surface of the raw tube while waiting for natural drying, this leads to poor appearance. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a high cleanness of the drying zone.

In addition, when forming a photosensitive coating film, if there is a large difference between the temperature of the base tube and the temperature of the photosensitive solution immersed therein, film thickness unevenness occurs.
When supplying the photosensitive liquid to the coating equipment, it was necessary to control the temperature of the raw tube, for example, by heating the raw tube again.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a photoreceptor drum tube drying apparatus capable of rationally solving the above-mentioned disadvantages. It is in.

[0008]

The technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above object are as follows. That is, the photoreceptor drum tube drying equipment according to the present invention is provided with a transfer line for the photoreceptor drum tube, which is provided between a washing device for washing with water and a photoreceptor application device. It is characterized in that a drying / cooling chamber is provided for heating and drying the drum tube and then cooling it to around the temperature of the photosensitive solution.

According to the above construction, the photosensitive drum tube is heated, dried and cooled immediately after washing with water, and the photosensitive drum tube can be supplied to the photosensitive liquid coating facility without time lag. In addition to eliminating the need for lines,
The problem of poor appearance due to the attachment of foreign matter does not occur, and the unevenness of the thickness of the photosensitive coating film does not occur, thereby improving the yield as a whole.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a photoreceptor drum 1 and FIG. 2 shows a photoreceptor drum 1 manufacturing facility 2. The photoreceptor drum 1 is, for example, a photoreceptor drum tube 3 made of an aluminum pipe. The photosensitive coating film 4 is formed on the outer surface of the substrate.

In FIG. 2, which shows a manufacturing facility 2 for the photoreceptor drum 1, reference numeral 5 denotes a pipe cleaning apparatus for removing foreign matter from the pipe surface and degreasing the pipe. In 3, a degreasing cleaning process is performed in the cleaning chamber 7.

A pipe holding jig for holding one or a plurality of (two in this embodiment, side by side) pipes 3 in a standing posture is provided inside the cleaning apparatus. Inside the chamber 7, there are two side-by-side
A transfer line is provided for suspending and holding the raw tube 3 at its upper end side and sequentially transferring the raw tube 3 to a raw tube holding jig in the cleaning device in a standing posture. The pallet from which the raw tube 3 has been taken out is returned to the delivery position A by the carry-in / out device.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a tube drying unit for drying the tube 3 after cleaning. As shown in FIG. 3, a drying room 9 and a cooling room 10 each having a heat insulating structure are connected to the cleaning room 7 in this order. And in the drying and cooling chambers 9 and 10,
Two pipes 3 after cleaning are arranged side by side, and a pipe holding jig 21 for holding the pipes 3 in a standing posture is arranged, and air for heating and drying and air for cooling are respectively supplied from above the pipes 3 to below. Air circulation devices 11 and 12 for supplying the air are provided.

The heating and drying air circulation device 11 is
An inner plate 13 is provided so as to bisect the drying chamber 9 in the width direction,
An installation space for the raw tube 3 is formed by the side wall of the drying chamber and the inner plate 13, a heater unit 14 is installed in connection with the space, and a HEPA filter 15 is installed above the raw tube installation space; The air heated through the heater unit 14 is supplied to the blower 1 through the filter 15.
6 is configured to circulate and supply the raw tube 3 from above to below.

The cooling air circulating device 12 is structurally the same as the heating / drying air circulating device 11, and a cooler (shown by a phantom line) 17 instead of the heater unit 14. And a configuration in which the cooling air is circulated and supplied from above to the raw pipe 3 only by providing a small capacity heater (not shown) for controlling the temperature of the circulating air. Have been.

In the drying chamber 9, for example, a temperature of 100 to 170 ° C. and a temperature of 10 to 60 °
The temperature of the heater unit 14 is controlled so as to perform drying for one minute, and in the cooling chamber 10, the raw tube 3 heated in a range of, for example, 100 to 170 ° C. The temperature is controlled by a cooler 17 and a heater (not shown) so as to cool the liquid to around the liquid temperature. Sensors for controlling the temperature are arranged in the drying and cooling chambers 9 and 10.

Therefore, according to the tube drying device 8 having the above-described structure, the photosensitive drum tube 3 is heated, dried and cooled immediately after washing with water, and the photosensitive tube coating device is coated with the photosensitive liquid without time lag. 18 so that, as before,
The need for a free-flow line for naturally drying the cleaned tube becomes unnecessary, and furthermore, the problem of poor appearance due to the adhesion of foreign matter does not occur, and the film thickness of the photosensitive coating film 6 does not occur. Is achieved.

The photosensitive liquid application equipment 18 includes a photosensitive liquid storage tank and a cleaning device, and includes a manipulator 19.
The pipe 3 introduced through the pipe 3 is suspended and held, immersed in a storage tank, a coating film 4 of a photosensitive solution is formed on the surface of the pipe 3, and the pipe 3 is transferred to a cleaning device. Then, the photosensitive coating film 4 on the lower end side of the suspension of the tube 3 is removed.

Returning to FIG. 1, reference numeral 19 in the figure denotes a drying equipment for drying the photosensitive coating film 4 on the surface of the raw tube. The drying equipment 19 completes the drying of the photosensitive coating film 4.
The production of the photoconductor drum 1 is completed. In the process, the photoconductor drum 1 is finally sent to the appearance inspection equipment 20 for exposing the photosensitive coating film 4, and only the non-defective products that have passed the appearance inspection are obtained. The photosensitive drum 1 is shipped as a product.

According to the photoconductor drum 1 manufacturing equipment having the above-described configuration, the raw tube 3 is carried into the cleaning chamber 7 where foreign matter is removed and degreasing is performed. It is carried in, heated and dried, and cooled to a temperature close to the temperature of the coating solution. Then, it is carried into the photosensitive liquid coating equipment 18, where it is immersed in a photosensitive liquid storage tank and exposed to the surface of the raw tube. As the coating film 6 is formed, the photosensitive coating film 6 at the lower end of the suspension is washed and removed.

Then, the raw tube 3 having the photosensitive coating 4 formed on the surface thereof and thus the photosensitive drum 1 are carried into the drying equipment 19, where the photosensitive coating 4 on the raw tube surface is dried and brought to near room temperature. After being cooled, it is taken out to the carry-out position B, sent to the appearance inspection equipment 20, and the appearance inspection is performed. Only the non-defective photosensitive drums 1 that have passed the appearance inspection are handled as products.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, the photosensitive drum tube after washing with water is immediately heated, dried and cooled, and the photosensitive drum tube is washed with the photosensitive solution without time lag. Since it can be supplied to the coating equipment, not only the conventional free flow line for naturally drying the raw tube, but also the installation space for it is not necessary, and the problem of poor appearance due to the adhesion of foreign matter does not occur. Since no film thickness unevenness occurs, the yield is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a photosensitive drum.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a photoconductor drum manufacturing facility.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a drying chamber which also serves as a cooling chamber.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Photoreceptor drum, 3 ... Photoreceptor drum tube, 5 ... Washing equipment by washing with water, 9 ... Drying room, 10 ... Cooling room, 18 ... Equipment of photosensitive liquid application.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An apparatus for drying a photosensitive drum tube in a manufacturing process of a photosensitive drum, wherein a transfer line for the photosensitive drum tube is disposed between a washing facility for washing by water and a photosensitive liquid coating facility. A drying unit for drying a photosensitive drum tube, wherein a drying / cooling chamber for heating and drying the washed photosensitive drum tube and then cooling it to around the temperature of the photosensitive liquid is provided in the transfer line.